Hello, Reddit.

I will try to keep this simple. So, I'm a huge fan of the Nintendo Switch (obviously), and I'm also a big fan of 8BitDo accessories. I have some of their Ultimate gamepads, I have some of their Pro gamedaps, mechanical keyboards, a fighting stick, and some more.

The quality of their gamepads is pretty great, specially for the price, and come packaged with tons of features like Hall Effect joysticks, TMR joysticks, compatibility with tons of platforms, and so on. They even support gyro on the Switch. No complains about the features.

But there is a feature that absolutely sucks in third party gamepad, and it something that will make you hate using 8BitDo gamepads on your Switch 2: rumble.

On the Switch 2, the HD rumble is not just a marketing fancy name.  It uses a linear actuator and it allows for a wider range of vibration intensities and frequencies.

The 8BitDo controllers use a traditional rumble motor with a simple on/off or a few intensity levels.

A couple of weeks, me and my daughter were playing Kirby and the Forgotten Land on the Switch 2 with an 8BitDo Ultimate gamepad (before getting the official Pro Controller), and there are some instances when bosses appear on screen, the controller was shaking intensely for seconds and seconds. Even the more subtle rumble you could get on the Pro Controller, you will get it at full intensity on the 8BitDo one.

I'm not advising against getting 8BitDo controllers (or any other third party controllers). Just be aware of their limitations.



Small PSA about third party controllers